MENDOCINO Co., 10/13/20 — The National Weather Service’s Eureka office has issued a red flag warning for most of interior Mendocino County and the Northern California above 1500 feet in elevation, beginning 11 p.m. on Wednesday night, October 14, through 11 a.m on Friday morning, October 16. Much of Northern California is also under a red flag warning for potential critical fire weather conditions.
PG&E has issued a watch for a potential power shut-off in portions of Northern California, but although Mendocino County is included in the general power shut-off “watch list,” as of Tuesday, there are no planned power shutoffs currently listed for Mendocino County.
The red flag warning is due to a combination of forecasted high temperatures, high winds, and low humidity, which means that new fires are more likely to spread quickly, and activity on active fires may increase. The warning is limited to higher elevation portions of interior Mendocino County above 1500 feet, but red flag warnings are also in effect for portions of Humboldt, Trinity, Lake, and Sonoma (see full warning here). Red flag warnings have been issued for portions of the Bay Area, Central Valley, and Sacramento area for the next several days (see full NWS map here). Some portions of active fires, such as the Glass Fire and parts of the August Complex, are in the areas under red flag warnings and fire activity could potentially increase.
As of Tuesday afternoon, PG&E is not including Mendocino County in the maps of locations facing planned power-shutoffs due to the fire weather concerns. However, locations in Sonoma County, and parts of the Bay Area and Sierra Foothills may see experience planned power shut-offs. PG&E is expected to release more details as the planned power shut-offs approach and the current map can be found here.
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